This coming Monday Mr. Ross Fox, the director of Catholic Education, will be our very special visiting guest. Our SRC will be taking him on a tour of the school, where he'll have the opportunity to witness the excellent teaching and learning that happens at St Thomas’. He will also meet with me and  have lunch with the staff.

Rostrum Quarter Finals

Congratulation to Mikayla Giacomin. Last night she competed in the Rostrum Quarter finals and was successful in being chosen to go through to the semi-finals. Mikayla gave a great speech on the topic “How Relaxing”. We wish her all the best as she prepares for the next round.

Shade structures

You may have noticed that the erection of shade sails over our sand pit and yarning circles has begun. Monies for these were from the School Upgrade Fund that we were successful in gaining a grant from earlier the year.  These should be completed around the middle of this term.

Hats on Day

Talking of shade structures, it is a perfect segway into the subject of hats.  The students are to return to wearing hats at recess and lunch from Tuesday, August 1^st. The Cancer Council recommends not wearing hats over June and July to allow for sun exposure enough to produce adequate vitamin D over the winter months. It’s time to dig them out and put them back in the school bags.  If you need to purchase a new one for your child, they are available at the front office for $10.

School Finances

Later on in the term, our school will be moving to a new finance system (this is happening across all 56 Archdiocesan school this year).  In the lead up to this, Naomi our Finance Manager, along with other staff, will be in involved in training sessions for the implementation of this system. It involves a number of significant changes for the school and a few for parents, particularly around making payments to the school. We will communicate regularly in the weeks before hand, about any changes for families.

NAIDOC MASS

Last Friday I had the privilege of attending the NAIDOC Week Mass alongside Mrs Anne Barbic and 12 of our students. To start the ceremony, we participated in a smoking ceremony conducted by the Wiradjuri Echoes. We walked through the smoke as we entered the Church. The Mass was presided over by Archbishop Christopher Prowse. During the service, we took time to contemplate the significance of the 2023 NAIDOC Week theme, which focused on "For Our Elders".

Being part of this meaningful Mass is always an honour, and it reinforces our commitment to supporting and celebrating Indigenous heritage in our community.

NAPLAN Results

On Monday we will distribute the 2023 NAPLAN results to Year Three and Year Five students.

NAPLAN was undertaken by students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in March 2023. NAPLAN is the only national assessment that all Australian children undertake. Questions assess content linked to the Australian Curriculum in English and Mathematics. NAPLAN tests are one aspect of each school’s assessment and reporting process and do not replace the extensive, ongoing assessments made by teachers about each student’s performance.

Education ministers have agreed that NAPLAN test results will be reported using proficiency standards from this year. Achievement in NAPLAN is now reported against proficiency levels instead of the previous numerical NAPLAN bands.

Students’ results will show how they performed in each of the NAPLAN assessment areas against 4 new proficiency levels:

• Exceeding: The student’s result exceeds expectations at the time of testing.
• Strong: The student’s result meets challenging but reasonable expectations at the time of testing.
• Developing: The student’s result indicates that they are working towards expectations at the time of testing.
• Needs additional support: The student’s result indicates that they are not achieving the learning outcomes expected at the time of testing. They are likely to need additional support to progress satisfactorily.

Term Letters

Further on in the newsletter you will find the Term Overviews for each year level. These provide parents and carers with a broad summary of the learning in each year level this term. If you have any questions, please be sure to contact your child's teacher.

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the sunshine.

Yours in partnership,